Top Gear Flogs A Tesla — And Breaks It

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson beat the snot out of a pair of Tesla Roadsters, and while he was blown away by the EV’s ungodly acceleration and technological prowess, he ultimately decided the car looks better on paper than it does on the track.

Clarkson couldn’t contain his glee as he stomped on the accelerator for the first time, exclaiming "God Almighty!" as the Tesla smoked a Lotus Elise off the line. "Not bad for a motor that’s the size of a watermelon," he said. The car’s ample acceleration – 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds – was enough to make him forgive the car’s somewhat clumsy handling, something Clarkson attributed to the huge battery pack.

Things were going swimmingly until the cars ran out of juice after 55 miles, needed 16 hours to recharge and broke down. That was it for Clarkson.

"The Tesla is an astonishing technical achievement – the first electric car you might actually want to own," he declared. "It’s just a shame that in the real world, it doesn’t seem to work."